The Music Library. On-site organization, Floorplan, and Back Story
How would I know what's here?
browse open and closed stacks, handle things, for: scores (often with parts), recordings and video (vinyl, CD, cassette, DVD, VHS, you can also BYO), headsets, books, current journals; much but not all our physical and online content is cataloged and discoverable in the BU Library Search.
How can I use these?
check them out for home in most cases, but in all cases things here, too; whether for research or recreation, it's all good; access online holdings 24/7
What else?
dig among uncataloged scores and recordings, confer with reference specialists, get digitization or project help, work with reserves, try out a vintage Roland D-50 synthesizer, or just find a quiet place to set up your own work
Is there a shelf arrangement I should know about? -- refer to the general map ahead. And, briefly:
the M section means content is the music itself: scores or recordings
the ML section indicates music literature, that is, writings about music's styles, history, contexts
the MT section indicates writings related to music theory and include pedagogy, analysis, performance technique
remember: M, ML and MT are physical items; online content is linked in BU Library Search results
Closely-related topic areas shelve close to one another, so, books about jazz are well apart from medieval music history. With scores, string quartets come before quintets, which are apart from folk and traditional music which are apart from musicals or hymnals. Recordings have their own areas but also arranged by topic area or label.
Lots--and we mean lots--of special sub-arrangements based on format such as vinyl separate from CD or provisional cataloging status exist here. You don't have to know them all, just know that they exist and that we can help pinpoint location quickly.
Our back story. In the mid-1960s when the Mugar building was new we were called "Audio." You'll see where both spoken word and music recordings were once streamed synchronously or asynchronously over cables, not web, by request to up to 150 listeners at a time over 17 channels. Teachers had the option of speaking live through a channel, like a DJ, to groups of students from what is now Mockovak's office.
Meanwhile, the collection of printed music, books and journals were variously relocated from the School of Music originally in Copley and a few other offices. Systematic purchasing chiefly from Europe and the U.S., along with some donations, give us the real cross-section of content that we have today.
Depending on your area of inquiry, don't overlook--and remember to make an advance appointment--the holdings upstairs of the BU Libraries Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center.
